THE VOLCANIC SOILS OF SAO PAULO.—From the state of San Paulo southwards, the escarpment becomes much steeper, and separates a narrow strip of coast from the plateau regions behind. In the east the rocks are Archaean, while, in the west, sandstones, associated in many places with eruptive rocks, probably of Tertiary age, prevail. These eruptive rocks are rich in phos phorus and iron, and weather down into a dark-red clay soil, which is peculiarly adapted to the growth of the coffee plant when climatic conditions are favourable, as is the case in the southern part of Minas Geraes, and in at least the eastern half of Sao Paulo. In these districts, at an altitude varying from 1,500 or 1,800 feet to 2,500 feet, has been concentrated within recent years the greater part of the Brazilian coffee industry, which now provides nearly four fifths of the world's supply. But the rapid development of coffee planting in this region, largely by means of imported Italian labour, has not been without its drawbacks. On the one hand, there has been the neglect of various crops for which the country is suitable, and, on the other, there has been over-production of coffee to such an extent that the government of Sao Paulo has been compelled, in years of abundant crop, to buy and withhold from sale no inconsiderable part of the output, in order to prevent too great a depression of price in the world's markets. This policy,
aided by a diminution of production elsewhere, appears to have met, so far, with a certain amount of success. At the same time, fresh plantations have been prohibited by the government.
During the American Civil War cotton was extensively grown in Sao Paulo. Since then its cultivation has been neglected until recently, when, with the decline in the price of coffee, new and apparently successful attempts to grow it once more on a large scale have been made. The state now supplies the cotton industry of Sao Paulo with a considerable amount of its raw material, though much has still to be imported from Pernambuco.
The town of Sao Paulo, situated on the route from the coast to the plateau, is the centre of the manufacturing district in Brazil, next in importance to that situated in and around the capital. In addition to cotton and food-stuffs, machinery employed in the preparation of coffee is manufactured on a considerable scale.